Alumnae Panhellenics

[FuzzieAlum]

I just saw in an NPC newsletter that no Alumnae Panhellenic has all 26 orgs represented. I was a little surprised by this. I know no school has all 26 orgs, but you would think big cities - say, New York - would have members from all over and enough people from each NPC organization to have all of them in the APC.

I was just curious to know if anyone else had a take on this.

[adduncan]

I'm not all that suprised. Some orgs are settled well in one region, and not another, or are just starting to expand. For example, during my AI research I looked at Theta Phi Alpha and DPhiE--the former was founded up in Michigan, the latter in NYC. Neither has an alumna presence in Houston, which isn't exactly a "small town". I'm sure the reverse is true as well: predominantly "southern" sororities wouldn't have a strong presence up north either.

Adrienne (PNAM-2003)

[AGDLynn]

I don't find that hard to believe. I belong to the same Alumnae Pan. group that GPhiBLtCol or whatever Cele's name is, lol

I must admit that I am somewhat surprised some of the "more well-known" sororities don't have more members participating, but then again, maybe they are participating in their own groups.

Unless sororities have alumnae lookups on their websites, sisters probably don't know that a sister lives across the street much less the same zip code or know that they can join a panhellenic org. as an individual member..

[pinkyphimu]

truthfully, i had no idea that alum panhel even existed!!! in my alum group a few dollars of our dues goes towards our panhel membership. we have 2 reps that attend meetings. i have no idea what they do, etc., but i will find out next year! i am the alum panhel delegate. even after reading about it on the npc website i was still scratching my head. thankfully, some gc memebers were able to help me out!

[MooseGirl]

but, I was wondering, what does an Alum Panhellenic do? I've read a bit on the NPC site, but wanted to get your impressions.

Also, is anyone involved with the Michigan one? again, the NPC site says there is one in the Detroit Area, but to email for contact info...(and I just thought I'd put the question out here first)

thanks,

Jen

[aopirose]

MooseGirl, maybe this thread can shed a little light.

alum panhellenic
http://forums.greekchat.com/gcforums...threadid=30524


FuzzieAlum, we have ~12 paid member groups plus 7 more who request the HS list in the official group. There are lots of alumnae of all groups here but they choose not to particpate. The reasons vary just as trying to recruitment members for our own ACs. I must commend AGD though. There is not an alumnae chapter here but Carolee, a former National Board member, holds down the fort well. Her Arc with Diamonds sure is BEAUTIFUL!

Originally posted by MooseGirl
but, I was wondering, what does an Alum Panhellenic do? I've read a bit on the NPC site, but wanted to get your impressions.

Also, is anyone involved with the Michigan one? again, the NPC site says there is one in the Detroit Area, but to email for contact info...(and I just thought I'd put the question out here first)

thanks,

Jen

[FuzzieAlum]

This may be a very ignorant question, but how much work does being in alumnae panhellenic require? I'm guessing it must be a fair amount of work or groups would have no reason not to participate (assuming they are in the area), as AOPirose says some groups choose not to. However, from what I see here in Seattle, it's not as much as that would imply. Our Panhellenic does one big event every year (a scholarship auction) but as far as I know that is its only activity. We have one rep, and she handles most of the work for the auction most years, except when "our turn" comes around to host.

I'm not trying to say that alumnae panhellenics don't do anything, just that I don't personally know what they do that would be prohibitively time consuming. Perhaps other groups do more, or perhaps many of their activities are simply not visible to folks who aren't intimately involved. Is there anyone who could tell me?

Also - what is the HS list? thanks!

[dakareng]

I think the nature and amount of work done by an alumnae panhellenic varies geographically. If your GLO does not have a local alumnae group, you might still be a representative on the alumnae panhellenic and participate in community service projects, social events with them much like you would in a local alum club. I've lived in several areas, and the one thing that I see Alumnae Panhellenics do consistently is support rush/recruitment. This may include information nights for high school students (where they might make that contact for recommendations), assisting during the rush process itself if there is a local collegiate panhellenic and providing scholarships.

[AAgammagirl]

we have an alumnae panhellenic group for the Toronto area.
i think that the variety of member groups depends on if there's collegiate chapter in that province/state or even country.
there are alot of NPC member groups that aren't represented in our group, although we would love to have more diversity!!

the following groups are not represented in the Toronto and Area Alumnae Panhellenic:
Alpha Delta Pi
Alpha Sigma Tau
Delta Phi Epsilon
Phi Mu
Theta Phi Alpha
Alpha Epsilon Phi
Alpha Xi Delta
Sigma Alpha Tau
Delta Zeta
Alpha Sigma Alpha
Chi Omega
Kappa Delta
Sigma Sigma Sigma
our website is //torontonpc.tripod.com

[CutiePie2000]

Originally posted by AAgammagirl
we have an alumnae panhellenic group for the Toronto area.
i think that the variety of member groups depends on if there's collegiate chapter in that province/state or even country.
there are alot of NPC member groups that aren't represented in our group, although we would love to have more diversity!!

Yup, we have Shala the Fabulous to thank for getting all that information together for us about Toronto.

[aopirose]

I agree with dakareng. The amount of work varies by association. As I mentioned in the other thread, I work with two associations. One is recognized by NPC and the other is not. In the recognized group, we meet every other month with summers off. We have a business meeting and program and an optional social at another time. We have one big Annual Meeting, in May, that coincides with our scholarship auction. We also host a high school (HS) information session for PNMs and their parents in June. We mail over 1500 invitations for this event. Interested girls fill out a form so that the HS list can be composed. Member groups use this list so that they can determine for whom they will write recommendations. In addition to these events, we also work with the Travelers Aid Society and Dress for Success.

Getting new groups to participate has been a challenge. For example, while perusing the local wedding/engagement announcements, I came across a recently married area D Phi E. My first thought was to contact shadokat and have her go through official D Phi E channels to have this woman contact me. Things didn’t pan out because the woman had not updated her records with HQ. We also have no active AST participation and they have a collegiate chapter less then an hour from here. I know that they have New Orleans girls in that chapter.

I guess it just really depends on how much time that you feel that you can spare. Panhellenic meetings/activities may require 2-3 hours/month. Some people would rather utilize that time in other ways. However, my biggest problem this year has been finding babysitters because Mr. aopirose travels. Another could have to do with cost. Some Alumnae chapters don’t budget for Panhellenic dues so the dues would fall on an individual member. We have a sliding dues structure based on chapter size. The most a chapter would pay is $75. If there is an individual without a chapter like AGD, the cost is only $5.

One more reason may go back to old rivalries. I was talking with a friend’s mom this weekend that is an XYZ. She told me that the reason that she doesn’t participate on the Panhellenic level. It is because there is a particular delegate that she doesn’t like. The reason goes back to when they were pledges more then 40 years ago in Texas.

The unrecognized group is a piece of cake – 6 hours/year tops. Each year we host a HS info session and every other fall we have a fashion show. That’s it!

I like AP because I have two extra “chapters” to call my own. There is nothing like having Panhellenic girlfriends!

CutiePie2000, I agree. Shala Rocks!

[FuzzieAlum]

I asked our association's rep what Seattle Panhel did, and here's an abbreviated version of her reply:

Seattle Panhellenic does dedicate itself primarily to the Auction to raise
money for the scholarship program, which gives 12-15 scholarships a year
to women. This is seen as our major support these days.

In the past, the Seattle Alumnae Panhellenic gave information nights/teas
for high school seniors. This is no longer done, for lack of interest in the
urban area.

[NeonPi]

Update from Toronto Area Alumnae Panhellenic ....

(thanks for the kudos, ladies - nyou are too sweet!)

We have 2 main events a year - a fall function (like a day at the races, a mad hatter's tea, a networking night) and a Spring Scholarship luncheon where we present our annual $1,000 scholarship to a 2 or 3 rd year member of a NPC group at U of T.

Membership is based on those women who would like to belong/involved. As well, we just started this year "Your 1st Year Free" to new alumnae that just graduated or moved to the area.

This year as well, we have held a Alumnae President's Roundtable to help faciliatte discussion and support for alumnae development in the Toronto area as many groups are struggling to remain open. As well, on Sunday May 25th at the North York Central Library, we are resurrecting our Information Tea, but it is going to focus on all campuses in Canada that have Greek life, not just U of T (it's themed "Making the Most out of yur University Exeprience").

Please check out our website for more deatils - http://torontonpc.tripod.com

[XOMichelle]

Wow! I didn't even know Alimni Panhel existed, Something else to consider when I go alum (in two weeks! )
-M

[shadokat]

Our Alumnae Panhellenic provides a scholarship each year to a local area NPC sorority member, as well as numerous philanthropic and charity activities. We have most sororities represented, with the exception of Alpha Epsilon Phi, Alpha Gamma Delta, Theta Phi Alpha, Sigma Delta Tau, and Sigma Sigma Sigma. So we're getting closer